November 2012
This
morning when I was filling the kettle with tap water my attention got momentarily
diverted and I overfilled it right up to the top. Obviously, I was not going to
waste electricity to boil all that water, I only needed two cups of tea. I just
poured the excess water in the sink.
I saved electricity but I wasted water and the
reason I chose one over the other was based purely on the economy. We have
meters for both but the cost of electricity is more than water. If usefulness is any arbiter, the water
should be more precious. Knowing and appreciating this does not make any
difference because ultimately everything is being determined now on the basis
of economy. If it brings money or saves money it must be good and worthy of
preferential treatment.
Look
at the City in London. The workers
here are the most highly paid. They are bankers, financiers, investment brokers,
fund managers and likes. They move and manage money that other people earn.
They do not grow anything, they do not manufacture anything and are not part of
the service industry either. One can live whole of one’s life without ever
needing there help when push comes to shove. The worth of a business now a days
does not depend on its real material worth but on the whims of the City. The
value of shares will not fluctuate that much causing insecurity and havoc if it
was not for the compulsive gambling habits of the city. But hey, they make
money for their shareholders and the government. Therefore, they are paid on average more than
any other group and the government treats them with kid gloves.
Well, a good teacher is paid much less than even a third class footballer and a
government that talks about moral obligations actively supports purest form of
gambling by endorsing National Lottery. Why? Because they make more money.
As
Thomas Paine said “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too
lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” The question is who decides the price?
Well
I have no right to blame others as I am doing the same, judging everything in
just pure economic terms: throwing water and saving electricity!
